The money which, according to Gumbo was released by Treasury last week, was aimed at rehabilitating the road network damaged by Cyclone Dineo-induced floods that have left some areas impassable with roads and bridges swept away.

“There is a special taskforce mandated to mobilise resources which comprises of the ministers of Finance, Local Government and my ministry. From these resources being mobilised, we have asked the State Procurement Board to waiver tendering rules so that we deal with this crisis we find ourselves in following floods that have made some areas inaccessible,” Gumbo said.

He said all road authorities had been tasked to source at least three quotations from companies already approved by the State Procurement Board.

“From the quotations we are looking at the cheapest one. Instead of spending two to three months processing how to engage road contractors when some areas are inaccessible, it would be unfair for our people,” Gumbo said.

He said part of the money would go to local authorities to clear storm drains, repair damaged bridges in city centres as well as patch potholed roads.

“We have some bridges in rural areas that have been impassable for decades and we hope to utilise part of the money to attend to them. The total budget for this we are looking at around $100 million. Today (Monday) we were supposed to meet as the taskforce to map a way forward on resource mobilisation ahead of the Cabinet meeting tomorrow (yesterday), but we could not. I hope we shall find time to discuss before the meeting,” Gumbo said.